As far as I know, neither `Smiley's People', nor its prequel, `Tinker,
Tailor, Soldier, Spy', is available in the US in BBC packaging (the
current
distributor) so you'll have to use your initiative if you want them. I
acquired my copies of `Smiley's People' and `Tinker, Tailor' through my
video guy, who makes a couple of trips every year to London to shop for
Euro-only products. I then had them re-coded to the U.S. playback
standard.
I would urge collectors to definitely acquire both titles. Having both
really gives you something to sink into. Although either title can easily
stand alone, they dovetail beautifully. Only the re-casting of a couple of
principal supporting roles detracts slightly from the otherwise airtight
continuity between the two. If you've read the book, you know the plot. If
you have not read it (admittedly, LeCarré is not for everyone), here's an
appetizer:

Retired British counter-intelligence operative George Smiley (Sir Alec
Guinness in a remarkably nuanced performance) becomes aware, through
events
linked to the murder of a former colleague, that his seemingly
invulnerable
arch-rival in Soviet counter-intelligence, known to the western
intelligence
fraternity as `Karla', may have finally exposed an Achilles heel. (Some
years earlier, as recounted in the more episodic yet excellent `Tinker,
Tailor', Karla nearly destroyed British counter-intelligence, wrecking
Smiley's marriage in the process). Going on an initial hunch and a
fragment
of evidence, turned up in a beautiful sequence reminiscent of a similar
scene in Antonioni's `Blow Up', Smiley methodically begins to put the
pieces
together, despite the fact that almost everyone he knows is advising him
to
go home and don his robe and slippers. At the same time Karla, realizing
that he has probably jeopardized himself by bending his own
rigidly-enforced
rules, is ruthlessly trying to cover his own tracks. Karla (introduced in
a
fascinating, wordless performance by Patrick Stewart in `Tinker, Tailor')
is
no comic book villain but a brilliant, almost monumental adversary who
survived Stalin's purges, rising through the labyrinth of Soviet
socio-politics to the pinnacle of power.

`Smiley's People' is a tale of revenge. If, as the saying goes, revenge is
a
dish best served cold, or at least cool, Smiley's is the coolest possible
variety, barely visible through a professionalism honed by years in the
Cold
War trenches. Moving resolutely around or through all obstacles, he
eventually collects the evidence needed to secure the support of Sir Saul
Enderby, current chief of the revamped, cynical British
counter-intelligence
service (termed by LeCarré `The Circus'). Barry Foster, the eerily
incandescent serial killer in Alfred Hitchcock's `Frenzy', portrays the
suave, power-loving Enderby, an arch-bureaucrat with more clout than
credibility, whose vanity will not let him begrudge Smiley any
acknowledgement of his brilliant and courageous work. Their scene
together,
in which Enderby tries and fails to push Smiley's buttons, all of which
have
been hermetically sealed by decades of experience, is a delight. `Smiley's
People' operates largely on this sort of intimate, interpersonal level.
Some
of its greatest pleasures are found in scenes that center on the
unflinching
Smiley and his elegant, slightly honest, former master of spy-tradecraft,
Toby Esterhaze (Bernard Hepton). Smiley recruited Esterhaze from the
Vienna
gutters at the end of the World War II and to open a line of fire on
Karla,
reactivates him to compromise and turn one of the Soviet spymaster's
European operatives. (If Toby had been Nixon's Chief of Staff during the
Watergate crisis, the Nixster would probably still be president.) The
initial meeting between Smiley and Esterhaze, their first since a rather
unfriendly encounter in `Tinker, Tailor', is masterful, almost
poetic.

Even in its somewhat streamlined, screen version `Smiley's People' is
complex and dimensional, requiring full attention at all times. Crucial
elements of dialog dart past while you blink (you'll become an adept
rewinder). LeCarré's novel is screened as a series of beautifully-wrought
set pieces; for the most part quiet interactions between detailed,
believable characters who are driven by equally believable motivations,
from
the petty through the desperate. The settings jump from London to Paris to
Hamburg to Berne and back as Smiley whittles each lead to heartwood. Not a
shot is fired during the entire film, but the background menace against
which Smiley operates is unmistakable. The very lethal Karla has known,
almost from the start, that he has acquired a bogey. But he does not know
that it is Smiley, whom Karla thought retired and out of the game, who is
now on his tail. Smiley must work quickly and precisely while staying
hidden, knowing that if he is discovered, he and anyone with whom he is
currently associated, will almost certainly be eliminated. Karla's
nickname
in the west is `The Sandman'. Anyone, anywhere, who has ever threatened
him
has been permanently put to sleep. Karla will be especially responsive to
Smiley, for it was he who unmasked Karla's highly-placed and destructive
double-agent in `Tinker, Tailor', through whom Karla had been manipulating
the entire western intelligence community for decades.

As events proceed in their intimate, quiet way, the suspense builds like
layers of paint, one thin coat at a time. It's hard to resist, even after
numerous screenings. Although `Smiley's People' is a serious thriller, in
some places exhibiting an almost documentary realism, it is also poignant.
Many of its characters, some decent, some less so, their lives all but
car-baled by Stalinism, are now living out tenuous gray-scale existences,
still under the cornice of Soviet power, despite the fact that they now
reside in the west. The restrained, mournful score further accentuates the
film's underlying emotionality. The acting is superb down through the
smallest role. Even the editing, skillfully introducing and interweaving
the
corollary plot lines is first-rate. I screen `Smiley's People' every few
months and never tire of it. If you appreciate LeCarré, espionage-based
drama, or are simply looking for a temporary antidote to rampant ageism,
you
should see or collect this masterpiece. It's a gourmet meal for the
mind.

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